Day to Day
by TinySprite
Summary: A NaNoWriMo project. A series of one-shots for Sigma 6. Warnings will be put in as needed.
1. Evidence

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of GI Joe Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Evidence

(–)

Hi-Tech grumbled to himself as he cleaned paint off of HOUND. The sentient machine beeped at him softly in apology, managing to transmit embarrassment at the same time. How his pet had gotten covered in enough paint that it looked like a botched tie-dye job was a question for the ages.

No one was claiming responsibility and Hi-Tech himself could find no evidence that pointed to any guilty party. Though he knew plenty of people that would do this as a prank, everything was otherwise saying that this had been an honest accident.

But why was no one coming forward about it? The closest thing had been an irritated e-mail to Duke from the Maintenance crew about some missing cans of paint, various colors. Colors that HOUND was covered in, which was why Hi-Tech and some of the others were convinced it had been a prank.

Unfortunately the main suspects all had solid alibis. Tunnel Rat was on a mission with Heavy Duty and Long Range, with Kamakura and Spirit providing back up. Jinx had been with Snake Eyes during the time of the paint theft and Hi-Tech himself had been talking to her when he realized HOUND was missing. So either it was someone else or this had been one elaborate accident, which the geek was having a hard time believing.

Finally getting the last of the paint off, he sighed and gently petted HOUND on the head, "There ya go buddy. Hopefully this won't happen again."

The robot beeped happily at him, the screen reflecting that with a smiling emoticon. Returning the smile, Hi-Tech got up and left to return to his work, thinking HOUND would follow. It didn't, instead watching as its creator left.

Waiting for a few minutes, the medium-sized machine carefully rolled forward to the open door to check that the coast was clear. Once it was certain of that, it closed the door to the lab and went to its work corner. Using its crane hand to pull aside a thick sheet, the missing cans of paint were revealed along with some other supplies.

Laying the sheet out neatly on the floor, HOUND rolled itself onto it, using its crane to pick up a clean paint brush at the same time. It waited for a minute, seemingly considering the open cans before finally dipping the brush into a can of dark green paint. Satisfied with that color, HOUND began to paint one of its legs, a second crane hand coming from its back to grab a stirring stick and prep a can of tan paint.

So the first paint scheme hadn't worked, but the second one surely would.


	2. I'm Here

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: I'm here

_'talking'_ = thinking

(-)

Snake Eyes snapped awake, only his strict training keeping him from doing much more. Trying to control his frantic breathing, his blue-gray eyes darted around to place where he was. The familiar walls of his cabin met his gaze, barely discernible in the early morning light.

Focusing on that, he used it to help get himself under control, reminding himself that the nightmare had just been that, a nightmare. Despite that, one of his hands reached up to touch the scars on his face, a part of him ashamed that he was trembling. Blaming it on the chill of the morning, Snake closed his eyes again and let out a slow breath.

He should be over this by now! Gritting his teeth in frustration, he began to get up only to feel a slight movement against his side. Opening his eyes to look, he found Shana blinking at him sleepily, one of her own hands reaching out to gently touch his shoulder. She murmured his name, a question in her eyes.

Snake Eyes took a second to admire her, loving how she was still so beautiful despite just waking up. Rolling onto his side towards her, Snake wrapped his arms around Shana in a hug. She returned it, lightly nuzzling into his shoulder, mumbling something soothing.

The blond ninja hugged her a little tighter, using the act to help anchor himself in the present, _'I'm here. She's here with me. We're both here, right now. I'm here, not there.'_

Letting that mantra run through his head a few times seemed to help as his muscles finally relaxed and his breathing eased out. Shana was already more asleep than awake at that point, comfortable sleeping against him like this. Making a decision, Snake rolled again back onto his back, shifting his girlfriend so she was laying on top of him, her head pillowed on his shoulder.

She let out a happy murmur, easily drifting back to sleep. Snake stayed up a little longer, gently running one of his hands through soft red hair before letting out a soft sigh. As he finally slipped back asleep himself, one last thought crossed his mind, _'I'm here.'_


	3. Funeral

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is the property of Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Funeral

Warning: This is a little graphic.

(-)

Long Range gritted his teeth before forcing himself to relax, staring intently down the scope of his sniper rifle. The team had known that this would not be an easy mission and predictably it'd gone south.

They had followed a lead about Cobra closing in on the location of not one, but two power stones that were buried together in a collapsed mine shaft. Long Range didn't know if that was true or not as they'd walked straight into a trap in the nearby town.

In a disturbingly short time, their communications had been cut and the team had been forcibly scattered by well placed Cobra BAT units. The last time he'd been given any information, Storm Shadow was keeping Snake Eyes occupied, the two ninja apprentices were providing back up for Hi-Tech as he tried to find what killed their comm units and remove it with the rest of the team being ordered to provide cover fire as needed when not taking out the BATs.

Right now though, Long Range had a problem. He'd seen Hi-Tech dart into the office building in front of the sniper's position, the apprentices with him. He'd kept an eye on the building, taking out a few BAT troopers with some well-aimed shots.

Something had happened in the building. He didn't know exactly what, but it resulted in Zartan capturing Hi-Tech and right now the two of them were on the roof. Zartan was using Hi-Tech as a human shield, holding a plasma gun to the Joe's head. His demand was simple: in exchange for their teammate's safety, they let Zartan get away.

Long Range knew there was no guarantee that Zartan would keep his word, which was why he still had his sights on the mercenary. All he needed was a single window, just one chance and this would be over. Pushing thoughts of where Jinx and Kamakura had gone or what had happened to them out of his head, Long Range kept his breathing steady.

Just one shot and his teammate would be safe. Just one chance, that was all he could ask for. Long Range didn't know how this would end depending on that window, but he would make damn sure that it wouldn't end with a teammate's funeral. Zartan moved, giving him that chance.

Long Range pulled the trigger.


	4. Puppy Love

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers. 'Puppy Love' is property of Paul Anka.

Prompt: Puppy love

(-)

Sean smiled at Kimi, his heart thumping a little faster when she returned it. He pretended to not notice the slight twitch of discomfort of her shoulders, especially as he shifted in his seat for the same reason. Neither of them were exactly used to civilian clothes, not after wearing only either their ninja uniforms or their Sigma suits for so long. It didn't help that they'd only been allowed the absolute minimum of weapons for this mission.

Thinking on that, Sean stifled a sigh before glancing again through the menu in his hands. They were posing as a couple on a date in a nice little diner. Eventually an 'old friend' would surprise them and the three of them would leave from there to 'see a movie'. It was annoying but if the mission was successful, they'd have a high-profile Cobra member in their possession.

It would have been nice to go on a real date though. He and Kimi hadn't been together very long and it was a little upsetting that their first date was a mission cover. Glancing back up at her, Sean caught her eyes as she glanced back at him. Exchanging smiles that were only a tiny bit nervous, Kimi flipped her menu around, pointing at something on the dessert section, "Want to try this with me? It looks good."

Sean saw what she was pointing to and looked at it on his own menu to better read the description, "It does doesn't it? Yeah, let's try that."

They exchanged smiles again, more relaxed now. Kimi glanced around, "I wonder where our waiter is. He should have brought our drinks by now."

Sean looked with her, also wondering that. Telling the little pessimistic voice in the back of his head to shut it, the apprentice shrugged, "Well it's busy."

Kimi frowned and went back to her menu, about to say something when the waiter finally showed up, putting their drinks on the table with an apology and asking if they decided on anything yet. They glanced at each other, briefly asking one another with their eyes if they should order or put it off for a few more minutes. Sean flicked his eyes to the menu, saying they should and after barely a couple seconds, Kimi agreed and handed her menu to the waiter, "I'd like the lunch special please."

Sean gave up his menu too, "Same with me, but could I get extra cheese on the burger?"

The waiter nodded and confirmed it, slipping away before either of them could mention dessert. Sighing, Kimi shrugged at Sean and sighed. He shifted again in his seat, both from missing the weight of his sword on his back and not knowing how to proceed from here. He'd never really had much opportunity to date before this after all.

At that moment the diner's previously silent jukebox started up, "_And they called it puppy love..."_

Blushing, Sean twisted around to see who'd done that, but no one was close enough to the device to be the culprit. Still red, he turned back just in time for some guy to pull up a seat at their table, dropping into it with a relaxed ease, "On a date, cousin Kimiko?"

Kimi let out a little gasp, arms open for a hug, "Tommy! It's so good to see you again!"

Sean had not been expecting this, not at all. In a few minutes, his brain would catch up to him and point out the needed details on the older ninja that said he'd not had easy time of it. Details like the dark bags under his eyes, revealed when he took off his sunglasses, the slight tremble of his hands and arms when he hugged Kimi, as well as the high neck of the older ninja's jacket that neatly hid what seemed to be a bandage on the back of Storm Shadow's neck. The rumpled civilian clothes alone should have been a major signal but that didn't break through.

Because, for right now, his brain was stuck on the realistic joy in his (girlfriend's?) partner's voice, "You two are cousins? Really?"

Storm Shadow gave him a smile that exposed a little too much teeth while nodding affirmatively. Sean weakly gulped, hoping he'd live to see a second date with Kimi. At her reassuring smile, he promised himself that and moved the mission forward, "Hey, why don't we get our lunch to go and see a movie or something?"


	5. Gloves

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Gloves

(-)

Heavy Duty flexed his hands, settling his new power gloves on them. Hi-Tech was sitting off to the side, focus intent on the monitor before him, rapidly typing in something. Heavy took the chance to throw a couple air punches, getting used to different weight of the new gloves. They fit well and were only slightly heavier than his previous pair.

Hi-Tech glanced up finally, eyes bright with excitement, "Alright I just want you to punch the dummy, hard as you can Heavy Duty. I want to see how the improvements I made work out."

Heavy glanced at the modified punching dummy, "So, what's going to happen again?"

The blond smiled, having the grace to only look the tiniest bit impatient, "If they work right, then any punch you throw should have an increased amplification than what it previously had. The dummy should be able to withstand anything you throw at it, so let's start out at max power, okay?"

Heavy Duty shrugged and rolled his shoulders to loosen them up before getting into a basic boxer's stance. At least that explained why they were in Hi-Tech's outdoor garage instead of back in his lab on the ship. Heavy tightened his hands into fists, activating the gloves.

Hearing their soft hum, he waited until all the green knuckle protectors were lit up before drawing his right arm back. As he swung it forward, Heavy could just hear Hi-Tech yelp and start to shout for him to stop.

It was too late though. Once Heavy's fist made contact with the dummy, there was a static-filled flash of bright green light and a loud 'thum' noise followed quickly by the sounds of something first tearing apart, then smashing through something else, with the sharp screech of ripping metal accompanying it.

Swearing, Heavy Duty yanked off both gloves and let them drop to the floor as he shook and flexed his right hand, trying to get the stinging to stop. Checking it over for damage, the only injury seemed to be split skin on two of his knuckles and the overall stinging.

Looking up to see the rest of the damage, Heavy froze and stared. Hi-Tech just let out a half-strangled sound, also staring at the large hole now in the wall of the garage. Through it, the twisted and smoking remains of the punching dummy could be seen several yards away.

Within seconds, the alarms were going off and both men could hear shouting as their teammates ran over. Slowly exchanging a look, they both wondered how they were going to explain this in a way that didn't seem to be pulled from a cartoon.


	6. Blackboard

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Blackboard

(-)

Scott Abernathy was fully convinced that, at that exact moment, he was the most bored teenager on Earth. When the school year had started back up, his father been adamant about him returning to school with the entire Sigma 6 team backing him up. Unfortunately, Scott couldn't go back to the Hackfield Science Academy as it'd been compromised by Cobra and also for the fact that he needed to keep a low profile.

Which was why he was in this regular high school instead and hating every second of it. At least at Hackfield Scott could have had Spud with him, unlike here where his robotic dog had to be kept back at the Sea Titan. Trying to keep from groaning out loud, the teen refocused his attention to the class.

The droning history teacher was slowly and carefully writing 'historical highlights' on the blackboard, interrupting himself every third sentence to remind the class to write everything down. Scott quickly jotted down the information before nudging his open notebook over a little bit to reveal the second open one beneath it.

Letting a quick smile cross his face, Scott jotted down a few more equations, trying to tackle the issues of what would happen if he installed a vocalizer on his robotic friend. While Spud could easily make the noises of a regular dog, the vocalizer would give him the ability of human speech, which would be a big help in several areas.

Ignoring the brain dulling class, he happily buried himself in the work, managing to get a rough idea of the process needed for the project. He was so wrapped up in it in fact, that he didn't even notice when the history teacher stopped talking and moved to stand in front of Scott's desk. A quick tap of the yardstick on the corner of his desk startled Scott into looking up, right into his teacher's disapproving look, "Is there something you'd like to share with the class mister Abernathy?"

Scott quietly shook his head negatively, feeling his face redden in embarrassment. The teacher quirked an eyebrow at him, "Well there must be something. You ignored me both times I called on you."

The old man held out his hand expectantly, his expression stating that he'd have no arguing on this. Scott slowly handed over his second notebook, trying not to sink down into his seat. The teacher glanced through it briefly, frowning at the pages, "While I do admire your dedication to math class, this is history. I would appreciate it if you applied that dedication to the lessons here as well."

As the teacher returned to the front of the room, Scott really did shrink into his seat, ears burning as he heard feminine giggles and quick whispers from the rest of the class. Another thing he'd missed at Hackfield, the teachers were more laid back there.

He just hoped he'd get his notebook back at the end of class.


	7. Muse

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers. This Storm Shadow is inspired by Karama9's version, the chip idea especially. Go read her stuff.

Prompt: Muse

(-)

Tomisaburo Arashikage, also known as Tommy as well as Storm Shadow, sighed as he cradled his head in his hands, trying to will the latest headache away. It was such a small problem though, especially in comparison to having finally broken free of Cobra's grip and entering a rough agreement with the Sigma 6 group. A dull ache at the back of his head made him wince, one hand moving to trace over the bandage placed where his neck met his skull.

At some point while in their control, Cobra Commander had had a device implanted there, some combination of an advanced tracking device and an internal stun unit. When it'd been active, it allowed Cobra to keep track of his movements as well as giving them a way to paralyze the ninja if anything went wrong. Wrong in this case being if Tommy showed signs of breaking the mind control or any form of rebellion against the Commander.

A near miraculous stroke of luck had happened to him some time ago, when the spiked energy output of a power stone had caused the implant to short out all but the most basic functions. Having recovered enough of his mind at that point, Storm Shadow took his chance and ran. A few pulled strings and called in favors from some...old friends...allowed Tommy to not only have the implant properly removed but also put him in touch with the latest form of GI Joe.

So far his reception had been chilly, but Tommy honestly did not expect much more than that. He'd told Duke and Scarlett as much as he could remember, holding some information back as a safety though. He'd given Hi-Tech what codes he knew and detailed the layout the Commander's current favorite base, adding in some of his own tips about the lackluster security.

A small smile came onto his face at that. Cobra Commander had been relying too heavily on the BAT and Overlord units lately, too much dependence on Overkill. Perhaps that had even played into Tommy's escape? Without Mindbender around to refresh the mind control, the Commander had kept the ninja close, only letting him leave for missions and often with the express order to come back once those were completed.

There was a soft sound from his safe house door, breaking Tommy free from his musing. Smiling again at what he heard, he stayed in his chair, even as the sounds of someone slipping in came to him. Waiting a few seconds, he looked up, signature smirk in place, "You're getting rusty Snake Eyes. Picking the lock shouldn't have taken that long."

The other ninja shrugged and signed that he came to talk. Tommy sighed dramatically and stood up, brushing imaginary dirt off his pants as he did so, "Then we can talk over a meal. There's nothing good in the kitchen and I could use the exercise."

Shaking his head, Snake Eyes made a motion for Tommy to follow him, indicating he had a destination in mind. About to protest against the normal grease-traps that the other ninja favored, Storm Shadow stopped himself and mentally shrugged. He wanted a meal with a friend (did he still have the right to consider his once sword brother a friend, after all that had happened?) and besides, he could make adjustments to the meal as needed.

That wouldn't stop him from complaining though. Some old habits just never went away.


	8. Magic

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Magic

(-)

Duke relaxed against a tree, giving his surrounding area a quick check before allowing his gaze to drift upwards to admire the night sky. Having finished his work for the day, he'd decided to go topside for a little bit as a breather. Armed with a pair of pistols, a few knives and a thermos of hot coffee, the Sigma 6 team leader wanted work to be the last thing on his mind at the moment.

Between the missions to stop Cobra, having to deal with a seemingly half-mad team and finding a new location for a stateside base, it seemed Duke saw more paperwork than ever before. But it would all be worth it in the end. With the new base, they finally have the last requirement in place for Hawk to be able to officially get GI Joe reinstated, not just the Sigma 6 team.

Duke glanced down from his spot on the hill to look at the old military base they were re-purposing for their own. It certainly wasn't as nice as their other base had been, but that would be improved with time. Hi-Tech was already making headway with upgrading its various systems and the rest of his team had been kept busy with the various tasks of repairing, repainting and general cleaning.

Stone had stayed with the Sea Titan, which was still going to be the Joes' active on-sea base. Some of the staff from the ship had been transferred with the team, which was making the process easier but it would be a lot better once more people were brought in. Thinking on that, Duke shook his head and took a sip of his coffee.

When he thought about how fast this had all been put together, it almost seemed like magic. Then again, paperwork was all Hawk could do at the moment in his condition, so the general definitely would have had the time to dedicate to this.

Glancing back up at the sky, Duke wondered which Joes would be brought back first. Hawk said he'd give Duke a list later in the week of approved Joes. He'd put in some requests for a few teammates himself, one of them being Stalker. The rest of the team, once they'd heard about it, had all asked for teammates back as well, with Roadblock being a constant.

Duke let out a deep breath and took another sip of coffee. Roadblock had also been on his own list. Thinking on that, Duke wondered which Joes they would get back first. Definitely either Breaker or Mainframe, Flint was a high possibility, Psyche Out was also a definite, especially as the Sea Titan's psychiatrist had quit after not even three days and they just couldn't seem to get a replacement. Either Lifeline or Doc was also definite, same for Clutch.

Startled by a dull 'boom' coming from the base, Duke snapped his attention to it, right as his communicator went off. Answering fast while making his way down the hill, Hi-Tech rapidly assured him it was a miscalculation, not an attack and that it was already under control. As he was swamped with technical terms and the improvements needed, Duke felt his regret at asking for Beach Head back fade away into the night with his peace of mind.


	9. Clean

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Clean

(-)

Hi-Tech hummed quietly to himself as he picked up the last of the trash from his lab and tossed it into the now full trash can. In a minute he'd take that out to the dumpster, but for right now, he just wanted to bask in the finally clean lab after hours of cleaning up the mess from his latest experiment.

After a few seconds of that, Hi-Tech took the bag out of the trash can to toss it, followed closely by a curious HOUND. When they arrived at the dumpster, the blond held his breath while throwing away the bag and quickly left, trying not to gag. He didn't notice HOUND staying behind, its crane arm reaching for a nearby box.

He actually didn't know anything until some hours later, when a very confused Tunnel Rat came to his lab, saying, "Uh, hey Tech? I think your robot discovered art or something."

Feeling confused himself, Hi-Tech followed his teammate back to the dumpster area. Sure enough, there was HOUND, very carefully making a model of itself out of random bits of salvaged garbage. There were some other piles of twisted up bits and pieces that could conceivably be previous attempts. Heavy Duty was also there, just staring at the whole scene.

Hi-Tech himself was torn between being surprised at his creation's development and being horrified at all the gunk that now covered HOUND. With a sigh, he stepped forward to find out just what was happening, mentally saying goodbye to the rest of his afternoon.


	10. Secret

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Secret

(-)

One of the fundamentals of being a ninja was being curious. Combine that with the other fundamental of being sneaky and by default ninja tended to learn a lot. Especially in a base where people would easily talk about nearly anything.

Though Snake Eyes did warn them to about applying caution and not eavesdropping on sensitive mission information, the three Joe ninja did tend to learn about things before the rest of the team. Sometimes they even found out things without meaning too, like the time Jinx was honestly accidentally in the right vent at the right time to hear Tunnel Rat's break up before even Heavy Duty knew anything or the time Kamakura saw HOUND painting itself a new collage of colors, finally ending the mystery of how it was happening.

The apprentices sometimes wondered what their sensei heard and saw, but never thought to ask him. Both out of respect for him and also because they knew he likely wouldn't tell them anything they didn't need to know. Besides, between themselves, the apprentices were usually ahead of the base's rumor mill, with only the occasional surprise catching them unaware.

But Jinx and Kamakura kept out of rumors for the most part, unless it was part of their mission to spread them. Because, above many things, a fundamental for a ninja was to be able to keep a secret.


	11. Superstition

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers. There is a slight crossover with Samurai 7 here.

Prompt: Superstition

(-)

"Hey, did you know that there's a double for every person in the world?"

Jinx glanced up from her magazine at Tunnel Rat, more than a little annoyed. The redhead had that smile on his face that said he was up to something and she didn't feel like humoring him. Unfortunately Hi-Tech did, replying back, "Yeah yeah and if you meet your double then you die or something right?"

She felt one of her eyebrows go up at the amount of sarcasm in his voice. Either Hi-Tech was in a bad mood or, like her, he wanted to stop Tunnel Rat before something happened. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be working as the redhead's smile just got wider, "Yep! Though some claim you'll just get bad luck or that it's an omen of change in your life."

Jinx sighed and gave in, "That's just a stupid superstition, like how a person sneezing for no reason means someone's talking about them."

Kamakura looked up at her from the card game he and Hi-Tech were playing, "Isn't that when your ears are burning?"

Hi-Tech shrugged, "I think the ear thing is when someone's just gossiping in general and sneezing is when they're specifically badmouthing you."

Jinx rolled her eyes, "Does it really matter? It's basically the same thing either way."

The other apprentice slumped in his seat, "Why are we doing this again?"

Tunnel Rat piped in, "Because everyone was bored. Anyway, later guys, I'm going into town for a while."

With that, he left the room, a little quickly compared to how he normally did. Jinx glanced at the other two, "So who else thinks he's planning something?"

They answered almost in unison, "Yeah."

Her boyfriend sighed, "Do we follow him or just wait it out?"

There was a brief silence before Jinx gave a groan of defeat and put her magazine down. The guys put their cards down, Hi-Tech sparing a few seconds to neaten the cards back into a single stack as they left. The team was actually on a rare vacation, though most of them hadn't gone very far from base.

After quickly changing into civilian clothes, the trio headed out to find out just what new trick their teammate was planning. As it was, following Tunnel Rat around was almost insultingly easy, something both Jinx and Kamakura grumbled about. Hi-Tech refrained from quipping that it was 'almost too easy'.

The redhead just seemed to wander around for a while, with no apparent destination in mind. He stopped at a cafe for a few minutes once, coming back out with a coffee and a couple of donuts in hand. Not long after though, he finally sat down on a bench in a small park and it looked like he was going to be there for a while.

At that point, the other three were even more bored and rapidly losing interest in foiling plans that didn't seem to even exist. As she turned to leave, Jinx saw something that made her do a double-take. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Tunnel Rat was still on the bench. Quickly looking back at the other person, Jinx blinked twice before carefully reaching to the side to grab Kamakura's hand.

He looked at her, followed her line of sight, paled, looked at both people twice himself and then lightly elbowed Hi-Tech to get him to look as well. The blond made a choked noise, hissing, "That shouldn't be possible!"

Because, the thing that had caught their attention, or rather the _person_ that did, was apparently Tunnel Rat himself, walking into the small park. He also had a cup of coffee and was nibbling on a donut as well, just like their teammate was doing. They were dressed differently though, which helped differentiate them.

They looked at each other, wondering what the hell they could do to stop the two from seeing each other. There were too many civilians around to use weapons and there was the risk Tunnel Rat would see them if they weren't careful. Thinking fast, Jinx pushed Hi-Tech at the newcomer, hissing at him, "Stall for time! It doesn't matter how, just do it!"

She and Kamakura moved off to do something else. Mentally flailing for something to stall with, Hi-Tech had to go with an old standby. Quickly moving to get the other TR's attention, Tech nervously asked, "Hey, excuse me, uh, would you happen to have the time? I left my watch at home ya see, and I -"

The redhead cut him off with a string of Chinese, shaking his head slowly and tried to push pass him. Surprised at how similar the voices were, though this one's was a little lower and softer than Rat's voice, Hi-Tech moved to a second tactic. Moving again to stop the doppelganger, Tech made a motion with his hand like he was making a phone call, asking "Do you have your phone? I could look at that and get the time!"

The other guy's eyes opened up from their almost closed state, allowing brown eyes to glare at Hi-Tech, a fresh string of Chinese coming from the redhead and this time it sounded pretty angry. Then, a more familiar voice cut in, making Hi-Tech freeze, "No way..."

Twisting around, he saw Tunnel Rat staring at him and the other TR, with Kamakura and Jinx both now trying to actually drag their teammate away. They all froze, at least three of them expecting some random disaster to happen.

What happened instead was that the other TR blinked in surprise and said, "Nicky? You were in town? Why didn't you call?"

Tunnel Rat frowned at his double, grumbling, "I didn't know you were in town! I didn't even know you guys were in the area!"

The double frowned himself, seeming to be confused, "I sent you an e-mail..."

Rat twitched a little, "The new one right? Cause I checked my stuff this morning and I didn't see anything from you yet."

There was a stretch of embarrassed silence that explained itself. Tunnel Rat sighed and scratched the back of his neck, "So what'cha doing out and about? Isn't anyone else with ya?"

Instead of answering that, the other guy was glancing at the trio, "So, uh, do you know these people by the way?"

Rat seemed to remember them finally and made introduction, "Sorry about that. Ricky, that's David next to you and the couple behind me are Sean and Kimi. They're my teammates. Guys, this is my twin brother, Ricky."

Ricky visibly relaxed and gave them a small wave, "Hi."

He seemed to think of something and gave Tunnel Rat a look, "Let me guess, you told them about doppelgangers, didn't you?"

Their teammate just smiled in a way that said it all. Ricky sighed and shook his head, looking at the other three, "I'd apologize for him, but I think you all know him well enough by now."

They nodded, each one trying to mentally cope with the fact that there wasn't one but TWO Tunnel Rats. Ricky shrugged and looked around, "So, wanna go get a late lunch or something? I bet Kyo's gonna be out soon to track me down anyway."

"We'd love to! Why don't you go ahead and invite Kyo too? It'll save time for him, at least." Tunnel Rat answered for them all. He then moved to force the other three to walk ahead of him and his brother, not giving any of them a chance to run. Ricky just pulled out his phone to send a text to someone, mumbling something about overprotective friends.


	12. Fantasy

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Fantasy

(-)

Baroness woke up sometime during the night, feeling confused. Trying to figure out why, she reached to where Destro should have been, only for her hand to hit empty space. Sitting up quickly, Baroness hurriedly snatched her glasses from the side table and put them on, turning on the lights just seconds after.

His side of the bed was a little messy and his mask was missing from its stand on his dresser. Cautiously, she grabbed her hidden plasma gun and eased out of bed to check the room. Finding nothing to suggest foul play, Baroness slumped back onto the bed, placing the gun on the bed so as to cradle her head in her hands.

James had likely had another late night inspiration and snuck out to work on it, though he'd had the decency to make sure the blanket hadn't gotten dragged off of her again. Her tired brain still trying to work, Baroness moved to get the communicator, flipping it open and putting in the code so as to connect to Destro's.

His custom busy sign popped up, stating that he was at a delicate stage of his work and should not be disturbed. Letting out a sigh, Baroness closed it, feeling slightly relieved at seeing that sign. It hadn't been there earlier in the evening when she'd called to remind him about dinner so that meant he'd put it up recently.

Putting her gun away, Baroness took off her glasses to put them back on the side table and turned off the lights. She ignored the little paranoid voice in the back of her mind that urged her to go to his lab like it always did when this occurred. This had happened enough to become practically routine, so she knew James would either be back in bed with her in a few hours or she'd find him asleep in his lab the following morning.

Moving to get comfortable in bed again, she briefly spared a thought for a life of normalcy, where she didn't have to do this kind of procedure at all, let alone twice or more a week. That fantasy was soon smothered by the welcoming arms of slumber.


	13. Test

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is property of Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Test

(-)

Scott was not freaking out. He was NOT. He was just...moving very quickly with a single purpose in mind as worries clouded his brain. Yeah, that was it...

Moving one textbook aside, he flipped open another one to the needed page and began to skim the contents. Taking the occasional note, Scott tried to keep from fidgeting impatiently in his seat. If he finished studying this in the next hour, then he could take off to go see that new action movie he'd been invited to.

It was just his luck that the science test the following day counted for a large part of his grade as the teacher hadn't given them many assignments besides the labs. So it'd been easy for Scott to slack on studying, right up until the night before the test.

Then his old friends had gotten in touch with him and wanted him to go to the movies with them and Scott had just agreed to go, not thinking about all the studying he'd have to do until he saw the study guide for the test.

Okay, so maybe he was freaking out a little, but he couldn't be blamed for that, right? Finally feeling satisfied that he knew enough to not fail the test, Scott closed his textbook with a little more force than might have been necessary.

Grabbing his things to go, Scott found that Spud was waiting for him by the front door, eager to go as well, mechanical tail wagging happily. The teen just opened the door and let Spud out first, locking the door behind them as they hurried off to meet up with his friends.


	14. Tease

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Tease

(-)

Kimi was nervous, an emotion that she felt ridiculous for feeling. This was just a date after all, she'd done it before. Even if this one was a little different...

Glancing at herself in the mirror in her quarters, she ensured her make-up was fine before stepping back to look at her outfit. It looked good too, though now she was having second thoughts about the skirt...no!

Shaking her head, Kimi firmly told herself that she was NOT changing her outfit _again_. Not when this was the third one. She knew that if she gave in and changed her skirt, then she'd have second thoughts about her top and want to change that as well. That wasn't even touching on the shoe dilemma she'd had earlier nor the one about which knives and other concealable weapons to take with her.

Leaning back in to the mirror, Kimi put in the earrings she'd chosen, putting the matching necklace on after. Looking herself over one last time, she grabbed her purse and made to leave her room, turning around quickly when she realized she forgot to put on perfume.

Finally feeling ready for her first actual date with Sean, Kimi left her room confidently and resolutely. Deciding on how to end the first person who tried to tease her, Kimi was surprised to find Sean waiting for her next to their car. She was even more surprised at the lovely rose he offered to her and his little telltale signs of being nervous himself made her heart warm.

Accepting the rose with a blush, Kimi decided that a little bit of teasing was worth it for this as Sean held the car door open for her.


	15. Storm

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Storm

(-)

Tunnel Rat stared dully out the rec room window at the storm outside, wishing the damn thing would end already so he could get some sleep. It was supposed to last for a bit too, all through the night and into tomorrow. He was already dreading it.

Before he could get much deeper into his depressing thoughts though, something light hit him in the back of the head. Turning around, he saw Heavy Duty about half-way through making another impromptu ball with the second empty take out bag. His friend stopped when he saw that he now had Rat's attention and asked, "So are you in or not?"

Heavy motioned to the table that had been set up, with Long Range cutting the card deck and Spirit at the one set of shelves in the room, finally digging out the tin of plastic poker chips from its tomb of magazines and fliers.

Tunnel Rat smiled and pushed thoughts of the bad weather out of his head, "Sure. What's the stuff for tonight?"

Long Range answered without looking up from dealing out the cards, "When the game ends, highest score picks the movies for the month, lowest score deals next time."

Rat nodded as he took his seat at the table, "Sounds fair."


	16. Strawberries

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Strawberries

(-)

Jinx was eagerly tucking into a slice of cake when some of her other teammates came into the base's kitchen. She ignored them to focus on her snack, but looked up when Tunnel Rat griped, "Geeze, can't you guys ever share?"

Glancing up, she saw that he was giving her an annoyed glare from where he was standing before the open refrigerator. Jinx smirked a little, picking one of the sliced strawberries off her cake to eat, "Not my fault if you're too slow to get any dessert before it's gone."

He frowned back at her, "Ha ha, keep it up and I won't make any more."

Jinx stopped, her fork poised above the slice to take another bit out of it, "What?"

Thankfully she wasn't the only one looking confused, as Spirit and Long Range both didn't seem to get it. Heavy Duty though, looked oddly smug. Tunnel Rat grumbled, "You heard me. I don't mind sharing but if you guys keep stealing my food, I won't make anymore."

Jinx relaxed a little, though she was still uncertain, "You know I don't eat any of your stuff. Unlike you, I don't eat bugs."

Leaving the fridge with a carton of orange juice in hand, Tunnel Rat closed the door and went to get a cup, "Either way, you are. Who do you think made that cake?"

The kunoichi froze, her eyes going wide with horror, "You're joking."

His back to her, Rat replied, "Nope. I made it this morning and I was hoping to have a slice with lunch too."

Jinx glanced at the others, grateful to see that Long Range and Spirit still looked as lost as she felt. The smugness had only grown on Heavy's face though and it was clear that he found this all very funny.

She had one tactic left, even though it was childish, "Prove it."

Hoping for him to laugh it off as a joke, Rat destroyed those hopes by rattling off a long and complicated sounding recipe and method for making a strawberry cake. As he did that, Tunnel Rat came up to the table to pour himself a glass of orange juice and continued on, " 'Sides, did you really think I ate every meal with bugs?"

Jinx could actually feel herself going green as she muttered an excuse and darted off, her stomach suddenly rebelling against her. After she left, Spirit looked at Tunnel Rat disapprovingly, "That wasn't a nice prank to play."

Tunnel Rat blinked at him, "I wasn't playing a prank."


	17. Weapon

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Weapon

(-)

As they were on vacation, Shana had asked him to come with her to her family's home, a request that Snake didn't mind granting. Her family was welcoming to him and the change of scenery was nice. Right now though, he had on his face mask and was just hanging out in the family's dojo, trying to keep an eye on Shana while helping one of her brother's move spare equipment around.

Snake Eyes enjoyed watching Shana teach hand to hand classes. She was a very efficient instructor and knew how to hold a class's attention. Both talents came from her own previous years of teaching these classes in the military and from helping out with her family's dojo.

Still, every class was bound to have its idiot or two. In this case, it was seemingly just one, an overeager young boy who kept interrupting Shana to ask when they'd get to the 'cool stuff' and was constantly spouting off how cool some weapon would look in his hands. So far she was being patient with him and consistently firm in her reprimands about being respectful.

Shana also restated at least twice so far that to become skilled in martial arts required dedication and hard work, not just a couple weeks worth of classes. Finally though, she seemed to have hit her breaking point with his rudeness and directed the student to stand aside from the class. There another one of her brothers took watch over him while Shana went back to teaching the other, more respectful students.

Smiling under his mask, Snake Eyes made a mental note to give Shana a shoulder rub later. She'd definitely need it from the way things were going.


	18. Beach

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Beach

(-)

David tried to not let his boredom show as he approached the cubicle, a friendly smile hastily pasted onto his face, "Hey, I was told you were having computer issues?"

The woman inside gave him a nervous grin back, getting out of her chair so he could sit in it, "I don't know what happened. I was trying to check my company e-mail account and it just froze."

Soothing her with some general excuse, David proceeded to try and pinpoint the problem. It was probably a software issue, since the company had just upgraded its system this morning. Performing the needed steps to fix it worked, to the woman's gratitude. Leaving her beach-themed cubicle, he made his way back to the IT office, reminding himself to never again complain about his lack of field assignments.

Undercover work sucked as it was, but being part of the IT staff so as to investigate whether or not the company was really a front company for MARS Industries sucked even more. He couldn't wait for this assignment to be over and done with already.


	19. Lost

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Lost

(-)

Cobra Commander was not happy.

Another failed mission, another power stone lost to the Joes. Zartan was before his throne, his right arm hastily bandaged and only the slightest sway to his stance as he waited for the Commander's judgment.

His rage only given away by the slightest tightening on his staff, Cobra Commander dismissed Zartan with a sharp motion of his hand. The Dreadnok leader didn't question it, instead just giving him the necessary bow and leaving the throne room in a manner that wasn't quite running but not walking either.

The Commander let out a controlled breath, trying to think of his next action. The Joes were regaining their old strength and Cobra was suffering for it, especially with Storm Shadow's escape. He paused for a second, went over what he'd just thought and smiled beneath his cloth mask.

Regaining old strength. Well, Cobra could do that as well. The Commander rose from his throne and left to his private quarters. It was time to call back the rest of his High Command.


	20. Cry

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Cry

(-)

Long Range was in the Motor Pool, giving the ROCC a look over to ensure it was still in working condition. The RHINO as well as the helicopter and the mini-jet would be looked over later, probably tomorrow given how late it was at the moment.

Everything was going fine until the lights of the base suddenly went out. Long Range was on guard instantly, though he knew it was likely that the currently on-going storm was the cause. When no alarm came, he relaxed slightly but was still tense up until the backup generators came on.

About to go back to work, he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of an absolutely terrified cry echoing through the base. Running out of the Motor Pool into the hallway, he met up with some of his other teammates and went with them to the source of the cry in Hi-Tech's lab.

Their computer expert was practically in tears at his work station, repeatedly mumbling "All that work, gone...gone...all of it..."

In the awkward silence that followed after ensuring that there was no attack, nobody really knew what to say to him. After a few minutes, Scarlett gently shooed the rest of the team out, making it clear that she'd take care of it.

Later, Long Range would find out with the rest of the team that Hi-Tech had lost nearly a week's worth of work in the black out. For some reason several of his back ups had failed at the same time, which seemed to hint at potential sabotage.

The base was to be examined from top to bottom as soon as possible, to make sure nothing was tampered with. A couple of the team gave token grumbles about the work, but they all knew it was better to be safe than sorry.


	21. Aloof

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Aloof

(-)

To those that didn't know him, Snake Eyes was an enigma. Seemingly aloof, only listening to either Duke or Scarlett and with a pair of apprentices under his tutelage, his image of a mysterious ninja was complete with the all-black full-body outfit he wore.

To those that did know him though, well, Snake Eyes was still an enigma but a friendly one. They knew his reasons for distance as well as why he wore his trademark gear. What happened between him and Scarlett was for those two alone to know, though some of their escapades did become known to the team. The apprentices were just that, apprentices to Snake Eyes until they either graduated from his training or found new masters.

But in the end, Snake Eyes knew who he was and he knew that Scarlett knew too. That was enough for him.


	22. Blood

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Blood

(-)

Hi-Tech mumbled to himself, writing out calculations on a notepad. Even if it was old-fashioned, it was another guarantee against losing his work in case of another mistake during a black-out. After another few minutes of trying to recover his lost progress, the blond sat up and stretched, feeling his back pop in at least three places as he did so.

His stomach chose that moment to snarl at him, finally reminding Hi-Tech that he hadn't had anything since his brief lunch several hours ago. His mood also brightened at the fact that tonight was Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner and several traditional side dishes.

Saving his current progress carefully and locking his work-station, Hi-Tech got out of his chair to leave his lab. Of course, it couldn't be just that easy as his foot caught something that made the computer expert stumble and fall flat on his face.

Groaning, Hi-Tech slowly got back up, gingerly feeling his now sore nose. Checking to see if there was blood, and thankfully finding none, he glanced over his shoulder to see what had tripped him. One of his spare screwdrivers laid innocently on the floor next to his chair. Since he couldn't think of why it would be there, it had to have fallen off of his desk at some earlier time, unless one of the ninja were feeling mean for some reason.

Grumbling, Hi-Tech put it away and finally left his lab, mood once again soured when he also realized what time it was. There had better still be some food left or there would be consequences.


	23. Tower Block

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Tower Block

(-)

"Your mail, sirs."

The pretty blonde secretary handed over the bundle of envelopes to Tomax, moving next to hand the clipboard containing that day's schedule to Xamot for approval. The scarred twin checked it over, gave a little nod of agreement and began to hand it to his brother only for Tomax to gesture towards their secretary while giving an affirmative nod of his own.

She quietly took the clipboard back and turned on her heel to get back to her desk so as to carry on with her own work. She knew her employers well enough to know that incidents like that were normal.

The silence in their office was broken only by the clicking of the antique clock, up until Tomax let out a soft, "Oh."

Xamot looked up from his work, questioning, "Oh?"

His brother slipped him a single envelope, which was revealed to contain a single card a specific shade of blue with a very specific red symbol on it. Xamot repeated, "Oh."

They were both quiet for several minutes before turning as one in their chairs to look out the tinted window of their office. As they were on the top floor of their company's tower block, they had quite the magnificent view.

Their shared thoughts centered on one main topic. Should they rejoin Cobra?

They both knew that the Commander had ways of making them come back and that the card was at best just a formality. So while on the surface it seemed like they were being given a choice, in reality, they weren't.

The Crimson Twins could either rejoin the organization willingly or be made to come back by their former leader. As to why they were being called back, that was uncertain.

The last they'd known, the GI Joe team had been almost completely disbanded following their leader's recovery from genetic manipulation, with only a very small force being kept on. During that same time, Cobra had been moving more towards robotic units and Destro's company was more suited to supplying those, with some help from Overkill.

That was why they'd been allowed to practically leave Cobra, aside from some monetary and equipment obligations. But now it seemed they were being pulled back in. Why?

Without looking at each other, Tomax stated, "Let's wait on the reply for a few days. He deserves to stew for at least that long."

Xamot made a small noise of agreement, replying, "Certainly brother. Shall we check on the newest batch today?"

His twin nodded and they both turned back to their desks to get to work. While they might have had leave from Cobra, that certainly didn't mean that they'd slacked off on their recruiting for the Crimson Guard.


	24. Taxi

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Taxi

(-)

Long Range drove the civilian vehicle smoothly through the city's traffic. It wasn't too bad at the moment, but he knew that it would get worse in the next thirty or so minutes as people began to leave work for the day.

Sighting the area he was supposed to go to, he pulled into the parking lot and circled it once before parking, purposely missing the first available space on a just in case basis. About to turn off the engine, he saw his teammate leaving the building his undercover assignment was in.

Lowering the window, Long Range let out a sharp whistle before he stuck out one arm and waved to get Hi-Tech's attention. The blond saw him and made his way to the car, looking dead tired.

As Hi-Tech came up to the front passenger side door, Long Range asked, with only a light amount of amusement in his voice, "Rough day?"

His teammate visibly shuddered and shook his head, mumbling something as he got into the car and buckled in, nearly forgetting to close the car door. Shrugging, Long Range pulled back out of the space and directed the car out of the parking lot.

Waiting for a break in traffic, he let a taxi go first before pulling into the lane. Sparing a quick glance at Hi-Tech, Long Range wasn't surprised to see him cradling his head and he could just pick up mutters of cursed system updates and idiot users.

Poor guy was a little too spoiled by the nice toys of GI Joe. Still though, Hi-Tech had volunteered for the mission so it wasn't like he had walked in blind.


	25. Search

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Search

(-)

James kept himself from sighing as Anastasia drifted from one case of jewelry to the next.

They'd gotten a tip from one of their sources that an eccentric jeweler had not only gotten his hands on a power stone, but had even put it into a necklace. It had been surprisingly easy to get into the show but now they had to wait until the necklace was unveiled later on in the night.

Trailing behind his lover, James found himself wondering just how the jeweler had gotten the power stone into the necklace. The stones released power whenever they were struck, so cutting the stone should have produced the same effect. What equipment, what technique had he used?

If it was possible to recreate it, could it then be conceivable to effectively 'trim' the power stones into smaller, more manageable pieces? Would they still have the same power output then?

Before he could fully lose himself, Anastasia walked up to him with a smile, followed closely by a nervously smiling assistant. Holding her gloved hands up, she presented a necklace to him, asking, "James, darling, doesn't this look look interesting?"

He gave the necklace a quick examination. It was on a thin chain, with its only feature being a surprisingly large ruby with a rectangular cut set in silver. Lifting an eyebrow, he gave a slight nod, answering, "That it does."

He gave another nod to the assistant as Anastasia handed back then necklace, before indicating his own assistant with a slight wave of his hand. The boy nodded back and went over to the identified person to settle the deal.

James didn't like jewelry shopping, but his sweetheart had made a point earlier when she said that it'd be odd if they didn't buy at least a few things before the necklace's revealing. Shoving aside his suspicion that she just wanted to shop, James let Ana drag him towards a specialized display, apparently all of sapphires in various cuts and set into rings and bracelets.

Hopefully she wouldn't forget that their main objective was to search for the power stone necklace. Besides, he'd already gotten something for her earlier, slipping one hand into his pocket to ensure the discretely sized velvet box was still there.

But then again...it'd been a while since they'd had a night out. James stopped another sigh and decided to just let her enjoy herself, for who knew when another chance like this would come along?


	26. Writer's Choice: Futile

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: _Writer's Choice_ – Futile

(-)

Hi-Tech cackled at his work station, either not noticing or not caring that some of his teammates were openly staring at him. The blond was typing maniacally at his keyboard, shouting gleefully, "You think you're tough?! Try it and see what happens!"

Scott lightly poked Duke in the arm to get his attention, whispering to him, "The security systems detected a hacker earlier. Hi-Tech's been keeping them busy ever since. I don't know if the guy's honestly trying to get into the system anymore or if they're just trying to prove who's better."

The team leader nodded, wondering how he should handle this. He knew Hi-Tech was responsible with their computer systems and that there was only the tiniest of chances of the intruder getting into areas they shouldn't. Plus, he knew it would be futile to try and talk to their computer expert when he was in this kind of mood.

Shrugging, Duke tried anyway, "Keep him out of the systems and bring me a full report later Hi-Tech."

The blond didn't seem to reply, but very briefly moved one hand from the keyboard to make an affirmative wave in Duke's general direction. With another gleeful cackle, Tech typed in something that likely broke things on the intruder's side.

Duke glanced down at Scott, "Keep me informed."

Scott nodded, sidling up to the work station to watch Hi-Tech at work. It wasn't long before he joined in as well, cackling alongside Hi-Tech. Duke glanced at the others on the team and was just met with general shrugs and comments to the tune of "At least they're having fun."

Duke shook his head and left to go back to his office to take care of some paperwork. He trusted Hi-Tech and Scott to not be idiots on this. Besides, ff the hacker did learn anything they weren't supposed to, then the Joe team would be on them in minutes thanks to the information Tech and Scott would have gathered.


	27. Writer's Choice: Discover

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: _Writer's Choice_ – Discover

(-)

Power stones were a mystery. How they were formed, their surprisingly random locations, just about everything was unknown.

What was known though, was their immense power output, which could be a blessing or a curse to whoever happened to discover one.

The stones were stable enough when left alone, but when hit, the resulting release of power reacted horribly with the surrounding machinery.

However, they were considered well worth the risk, which was why two powerful factions were fighting over the stones.


	28. Writer's Choice: Fear

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: _Writer's Choice_ – Fear

(-)

Jinx knew she struck fear into people. It was part of her job being a ninja after all. She'd even gotten good at recognizing the different kinds of fear a person could exhibit.

Fear at being caught, fear of fighting, fear of her herself, fear of discovery, even the fear of death. She'd seen it all and more, had even experienced a lot of it herself as well.

In the end though, fear was yet another tool that a ninja used to their advantage. Of course, she wasn't to her cousin Tommy's level yet. The very name Storm Shadow could make people surrender out of fear of having to face him. Her sensei Snake Eyes was right there with him too.

Well, it was certainly a goal she could work towards.


	29. Writer's Choice: Rescue

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: _Writer's Choice_ – Rescue

(-)

Normally, he was better at this.

But today, Tunnel Rat was already irritated and outright not in the mood to deal with things. All he'd wanted to do was eat his lunch and get back to work so the day could be over and done with.

Only he'd forgotten something important. Namely that Fate hated him.

Glaring at the falcon that was happily pecking chunks out of his burger, Rat growled, "Ya know, I know Spirit feeds ya. So there's absolutely NO FREAKING reason why you should be stealing my food!"

Billy ignored him, moving to eat one of the fries from Tunnel Rat's lunch. Throwing his hands up with a cry of exasperation, the redhead turned to go back to the mess for some more food. He knew from past experiences that it would be fruitless to try and rescue his meal from the bird, only getting pecks and mocking bird laughter for his troubles.

Seriously, one of these days he needed to confront Spirit about Billy's bad habit. At least he was able to content himself with the image of Billy becoming ridiculously fat on stolen food.


	30. Writer's Choice: Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: _Writer's Choice_ – Aftermath

(-)

At that moment, Scott Abernathy felt like the most miserable teenager in the universe.

Spudd whined quietly at him, bumping against Scott's hand for a pet and to make sure he was okay. The red-haired teen groaned and rolled over on his bed, not feeling like playing with the robotic dog right now.

The girl he'd had a crush on for the last month had publicly turned him down in what had to be the most humiliating way earlier that day in school. During lunch, he'd finally worked up the courage and asked her to prom, firmly set in his mind to respect her decision and accept whatever she chose. He'd been expecting to be rejected but had still been hopeful that she might say yes.

But instead...she'd freaked out and actually yelled at him, calling him a creep and saying that there was no way on Earth she'd go anywhere with him. She hadn't even stopped there, but kept on going until it felt like the entire cafeteria had been staring at them.

Scott could still feel the embarrassment and shame eating him away inside even hours later and he wasn't sure if he could handle going to school tomorrow, with the resulting aftermath from today. Spudd suddenly jumped onto the bed and pawed at Scott until the boy turned over to see what the dog wanted.

Spudd had a game controller in his mouth and was glancing between Scott and the bedroom's tv in a clearly hopeful manner. Sighing, Scott finally relented and sat up. They didn't spend as much time together as they used to and it wasn't fair to neglect Spudd just because he felt bad.

"Alright boy, you win. Just let me get some snacks."

Spudd dropped the controller onto Scott's lap and barked happily, jumping off the bed to do what Scott thought of as the happy dance. Smiling a little, the teen gave his robotic dog a quick pet before moving the controller aside to leave his room.

He returned quickly with a couple cans of soda and a bag of chips in hand, "Alright Spudd, let's do this."

Spudd barked happily again before quickly laying down next to Scott's game system, waiting for the teen to set it up. Dragging his beanbag chair over, Scott sat in it after turning the system on. Leaning over to go through his stack of games, Scott held up a couple, "So what do you feel like today?"

Spudd nipped at the fighting simulator, indicating his choice. Smirking, Scott opened the case and popped the game disk into the player, "You're going to regret that Spudd! Best two out of three like usual?"

Spudd dipped his head in agreement, gaze focused on the screen as the game started up. Scott relaxed into his seat, perfectly happy to let some hours of video games numb his mind for a while.


End file.
